A SURGEON who treated NHS patients at a private hospital in Scotland in the drive to hit waiting times targets failed to provide "good clinical care", a tribunal has found.

Mr Colin Campbell Mainds, who worked from BMI Ross Hall Hospital in Glasgow, performed operations on a number of patients for NHS Lothian so it could meet the Scottish Government's treatment time guarantees.

However, some of the patients were re-admitted to Lothian hospitals after undergoing their procedures, and the health board raised concerns about their medical care.

Yesterday, a panel of the General Medical Council’s Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service issued its findings after considering the way Mr Mainds handled nine cases in 2008 and 2009, seven of them as part of the Lothian waiting times initiative.

The panel found Mr Mainds did not adequately examine three patients before their operations, misplaced screws when carrying out spinal surgery on one patient and made inadequate notes of consultations.

Its 28-page report notes that by his own admission Mr Mainds was “frequently working seven days a week” during 2009.

It concludes: “The panel has determined that, in so far as the proved findings of fact are concerned, between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009, you failed to provide good clinical care to nine patients.”

Each of the nine patients concerned had a pre-operative consultation on the day of their operation. The panel’s determination document said: “There is a consensus in their evidence that those consultations were brief, generally ranging in length from five to 10 minutes. Having considered the evidence, the panel is satisfied that you followed a formulaic approach that did little more than confirm the information already contained within the patients’ medical records.

“There appears to have been little attempt to tailor those consultations to address the views or concerns of individual patients.”

One patient told the hearing she was “unnerved” by his casual approach, while another described not having time to remove their jacket during the discussion that came before the trip to theatre. The surgery resulted in “adverse consequences” for some of the patients, according to the panel. However, numerous allegations about aspects of the treatment provided by Mr Mainds were found not proved by the panel.

In one case, where during the operation two screws were misplaced by the surgeon, impinging on nerve roots, expert witnesses brought before the hearing agreed the surgery was “inadequate”.

The drawn-out hearing, which started in September last year, adds to the controversy around the drive to meet waiting times targets in Scotland and in NHS Lothian in particular. The health board was exposed for manipulating patient waiting list data to make it look as though it was meeting government targets in 2011, when thousands of people were queuing too long for treatment.

Tracey Gillies, divisional medical director for NHS Lothian, said last night: "We note the results of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further until we have had a chance to examine these in full.

"We reported the issue when we became aware of it in 2009 following surgery which had been carried out on some patients we had referred for treatment to BMI Ross Hall.

"Before sending patients for treatment we checked with the Care Commission to make sure that national care standards were being met at the hospital and they did not give us any cause for concern.

"Where necessary, we use external providers to offer patients the opportunity to have their surgery outwith NHS Lothian and so reduce waiting times."

It is understood a number of patients are involved in legal action regarding the treatment they received from Mr Mainds.

Contacted by The Herald last night, Mr Mainds, who is based on the Isle of Arran, said: "No comment."

A spokesman for BMI Healthcare said: "We suspended his [Mr Mainds'] practising privileges which allowed him to operate at Ross Hall in October 2009. His practising privileges remain suspended and he has not worked in a BMI hospital since that date."